City breaks online guide - top short holiday destinations

Time Saver

Back in the bad old days, before no frills airlines really took off, city breaks were strictly for the financially elite.

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Eurostar started the ball rolling by bringing Paris, Brussels and Bruges one step closer to the UK, but it wasn’t until the Internet kick-started the budget airline boom that city breaks became so popular.

Today an estimated 15 percent of all holidays are city breaks with New York, Paris, Amsterdam and Rome the established favourites. However, city breaks drift in and out of fashion and each year there’s a fresh crop of must see destinations. Yesterday it may have been Prague, then Tallinn stepped into the limelight and now everyone’s talking about St Petersburg. It’s anybody’s guess as to where next year’s hotspots will be, but it seems that it’s a case of the further; the better. In fact, the 21st century city-breaker would think nothing of popping over to Dubai, Cape Town or even Las Vegas for a long weekend.

However, with so many city breaks to choose from it can be difficult knowing where to begin; so we’ve decided to lend a helping hand. We’ve chosen 25 of the world’s best-loved city breaks and had a look at just what it is that makes these places tick. You’ll find unbiased city guides with information on everything from the virtues of hiring a car (not a good idea in Rome, unless you want to relive the capital’s gladiatorial heyday) to critical overviews of the city’s best and worst hotels.